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<P><A NAME="consume"></A>To <I>"consume"</I> a character means a matching rule will use the character up making it no longer available to following rules. Normally a matching meta character will consume all characters it matches. </P>

<P>For example, if the matching expression "<B>*reindeer*soul!</B>" was used to match the sentence, "<B>Those evil reindeer, oh how they prance upon my soul!</B>", </P>

<P>First "<B>*</B>" would consume "<B>Those evil</B>"</P>

<P>then the word "<B>reindeer</B>" would be consumed.</P>

<P>the second "<B>*</B>" would consume "<B>, oh how they prance upon my </B>"</P>

<P>and finally "<B>soul!</B>" would be consumed.</P>

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